


On The Edge of Living

by SubukuNoJess



Series: Karma AU [1]
Category: Beetlejuice - All Media Types, Beetlejuice - Perfect/Brown & King
Genre: AU, Abuse, Adventure, Angst, Beetlejuice Big Bang, Beetlejuice is a tag by itself, Blood, Breaking the Fourth Wall, Death, F/M, Fluff, Found Family, Friendship, Fusion, G/T, Gen, Gluttony, Humor, I don't know whether to use the vore tag or not, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Other, People being eaten, Possession, Sizeshifters, Suicidal Thoughts, TINY - Freeform, giant, objects being eaten, or the beginnings of it, possible gore
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:40:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23910223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SubukuNoJess/pseuds/SubukuNoJess
Summary: AU. Lydia Deetz knew her life would turn upside down when she moved to a supposed haunted house with her father and life coach. What she didn’t expect were two actual ghosts living in her attic or being cursed to be bound to a demon sealed in some ancient spell book.With a growing emotional demon by her side and the afterlife betting on their future, Lydia will travel from Hell and back to break the curse and find out where she belongs… if her new town doesn’t end up being rampaged first.
Relationships: Adam Maitland/Barbara Maitland, Beetlejuice & Lydia Deetz, Beetlejuice/Adam Maitland/Barbara Maitland, Charles Deetz/Delia Deetz, Charles Deetz/Emily Deetz, Lydia Deetz/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Karma AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1812652
Comments: 20
Kudos: 75





	1. The Curse Begins

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my secret project that I've been working on for the last few months. After getting obsessed with Beetlejuice, I came across a Big Bang challenge for the fandom and decided to give it a shot. I wanted to write some sort of G/T AU for Beetlejuice, so I came up with this alternate version. To challenge myself, I wanted to see if I could write and plan a fanfic with word count in mind rather than improvise chapter by chapter. The results were that it was difficult at first, but I managed to organize my story and exceed the 10K threshold... I believe. So this story is an alternate retelling of the musical with Lilo and Stitch and Coraline vibes, OCs, giants, and a whole bunch of sandworms. I will be working on the rest of my story in my free time and I will take some suggestions here and there. If you have any ideas or thoughts, feel free to comment and kudos please! I have a tumblr with the same username, so feel free to ask questions there as well. I hope you enjoy!

In life, people say that only death is certain. For the afterlife? Eternity, any suffering of some kind, and the places the dead end up. Depending on the soul and the circumstances of someone's death, a person could be sent to a variety of realms. There were different versions of Heaven, Hell, Limbo, and in some cases, a holiday world. This tale in particular resides in the living realm, Hell, and the Netherworld.

There were two major details that the living didn't know about the afterlife. The first one was that the Netherworld was like a creepy airport for the recently deceased, only that it was really a dark abyss that led to who knows where with no way of telling where anyone would end up. 

The second thing? Demons are really huge compared to humans, dead or alive. In the living realm, they blended with humans physically to make situations easier. But in Hell? A demon's true height could range between seven feet to hundreds of feet tall. And Hell wasn't just a cavern of fire and brimstone either. It was the dark, grimy underworld of a city where slum lords lurked in the alleys and the air was polluted with a fiery, red haze. It was nine circles of everlasting torture ruled by cardinal sins and vices. And for a certain demon who spent most of her afterlife in the Netherworld, it was an empty and bleak waiting room in a large office building with the walls decaying and the air smelling of burnt socks. 

Juno Shoggoth scowled as her heels clacked against the tiles of the hallway, walking to the waiting room while trying not to hunch over as usual. Once she had signed in with the receptionist, she took her seat and briefly pulled the cigarette out from her lips, letting the smoke ooze out from the slit on her neck. 

"Why did he have to call a meeting now of all times?" Juno hissed, crossing her legs. "Doesn't he know my work schedule in general?"

As director of Netherworld Customs and Processing, it was her job to make sure that the transition from life to the afterlife went smoothly for the dead. Sure, the work was tedious and the woman would rather smoke for eternity than deal with tiny annoyances, but she was assigned to the position not by choice. She literally and figuratively grew from a civil servant spirit to a powerful demon overnight; one of her proudest achievements she had to admit. 

Her biggest mistake was Lawrence. 

Lawrence Betelgeuse Shoggoth. Just thinking about his name made her blow another smoke ring and want a shot of alcohol. Like most other demons who were born dead rather than turned into one, Betelgeuse appeared after Juno had affairs with a demon and the demon left. She didn't like children to begin with, let alone raising something that acted like one. Regardless, she didn't have a choice either when a dead-born was involved. Dead-borns were powerful shifters with abilities no one dared imagine and capable of changing their size more smoothly than regular demons, hence the curses placed on them and the mandatory supervision. If every realm in existence turned upside down and the blame traced back to Juno, she would never hear the end of it.

"Lucifer is ready for you now, Miss Juno!" The receptionist's shrill, but deep shriek interrupted her train of thought.

"It's about damn time." Juno muttered under her breath as she threw her cigarette away and stood up. A red line of energy was drawn in front of the demon out of nowhere before splitting in two and opening as a doorway to Lucifer's office. She walked through the portal, the line disappearing as soon as she entered the room. Although she got used to the afterlife, Juno would admit that she didn't know whether it was a relief or unnerving that the room was a typical office one would expect a boss to reside in with a chair and desk, save for the hazy landscape of hell on the other side of the window in front of her. At this point, she didn't even bother wondering. 

"Have a seat, Juno." A deep, gruff voice commanded from a leather swivel chair in a calm tone, causing a slight echo in the room. Juno sat on the wooden chair without fanfare, glaring at the window. 

The ruler of Hell was arguably the most massive demon ever known, probably rivaled by Leviathan if they got into a mood. Big horns? Monstrous? Usually dwelled at the very bottom of Hell? Most of the rumors were true along with the fact that everybody knew not to mess with him unless they had a wish worse than death. Despite such knowledge, Lucifer appeared from the swivel chair on the other side of the desk, much smaller than normal and dressed for business. A simple black suit and dark red tie with golden cuff links. Dark grey medium length hair with large twisted horns of ivory adorned on top of it. Yellow eyes with pupils akin to a goat's narrowed as he fixed his collar and cleared his throat.

"I have a feeling you know the reason why I called you here." Lucifer stated, raising an eyebrow. Juno returned the action.

"You usually don't call me unless A) you’re redesigning the Netherworld in some way or B) Beetlejuice is involved. Something tells me it's the latter."

"Come on, Juno. Don't sound like I keep calling you because of that! You're a good worker. No nonsense. Telling it like it is while sorting out the souls. You're one of the few demons I could tolerate." When Juno didn't respond, the ruler of Hell continued.

"I just wanted to discuss what our plans are for Lawrence in the future, that's all." Lucifer shrugged. "Just to prevent repeated offenses from happening. Despite his... flaws, your son still has potential. Deceit. Torture. Power that some dead-borns don't have. I wanted him to become an official exorcist demon, but _you_ insisted on having him as a Netherworld guide instead, even though he hasn't done it properly in centuries!" He brought a fist down onto the desk, the whole room seeming to tremble at the action. 

"With all due respect, _sir_ , we cannot give any more power and ego than the fool believes he has." Juno hissed as she pinched the bridge of her nose briefly. "If we do, both the Netherworld and Hell would be in shambles. And I believe you just want him to annoy one of your own headaches." 

At that, both demons glared at each other and crossed their arms as they leaned forward. They stared at each other down for a while until Lucifer pulled back up with a sigh.

"... You're smarter than I thought." Ignoring the woman's tiny smirk of victory, Lucifer turned his back to her as he stared at the hazy city before him.

"You're not wrong. You got Lawrence and the Recently Deceased, I got the souls of the damned and the other cardinal leaders bothering me. Beelzebub especially. Always gloating that he's more powerful and mainstream than the rest. I figured that if he's with someone just as annoying as him, he'll settle down and we both get them out of our businesses for at least a decade or two. Maybe a century if we're lucky."

Juno scoffed. "That's going to be a problem since I banished mine to the world of the living."

"And how's that going for you?" Lucifer glanced back at the director, almost knowingly. "Knowing him, he'll find a way back to the dead. He always does."

“I can assure you that Lawrence is stuck at the surface with the living and suffering for it.”

* * *

Meanwhile in one of the several downtown areas of Hell, something was going down on one of the top floors of a ten-floor apartment.

In front of the building was a black Mercedes Benz with a fly painted on the hood, idle as the driver waited for someone. Inside the car, black sharp nails drummed against the wheel at a scattered and quick pace while the owner of said nails exhaled a buzzing breath. 

“Why is he taking so long? There won't be much time left!” The driver growled in a high baritone voice that sounded as if it were melting like butter. His unruly, spiky orange hair seemed to hover over his pointed ears as his bright orange eyes narrowed at nothing specific on the street. He was tall, had dark tan skin, and a bit chubby around the edges with a pot belly held back by a sleeveless maroon shirt and ripped black jeans. The large fly wings on his back hummed against the seat, almost impatient. It was supposed to be a quick stop of supplies and nothing else. What was going on in there?

Just then, there were some muffled shouts until someone burst out through the front door lugging an overfilled burlap sack over their shoulder. The demon was a bit more than five and a half feet tall with golden eyes, pale skin, and wild green hair along with some yellow strands popping out. They wore a dusty dark grey coat over their black and white striped suit and green tie.

They then exclaimed in a masculine, gravelly voice as they scrambled into the front passenger seat, "Step on it, Bee!"

"It's about time!" The orange-haired demon groaned in relief as he slammed the accelerator and the car sped off, causing the other to almost fly out to the backseat, but he held on.

“What took you so long, Beetlejuice?! I’ve been waiting here for decades! Did ya get everything?” Bee inquired with a smile. 

Beetlejuice chuckled and nudged an elbow to Bee, “It hasn’t been that long and you know it, Beelzebub. I should know; I’ve been waiting for centuries. And it isn’t my fault this time! A couple o' demons were late, some of the items were wrong, and I kinda-sorta pissed some of the demons off with a femur. Don't ask."

“Damn… my bad. We wouldn’t have taken this detour if dear old Satan and the rest of my ‘family’ didn’t seal some of my powers away! You take over a few séances and possess a large group of people for three weeks and suddenly, you’re the bad guy!” Bee snarled and shook his head before making a sharp left turn at an alley once he saw some shadows at his rear-view mirror. 

“I know, right?” Beetlejuice scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Sounds just like my mom. ‘Beebleboose, stop bothering the recently deceased and get a job!’”

Beelzebub laughed as he elbowed the dead-born demon, the yellow colors fading back to green. “See? We get each other, BJ! The only other demon who gets me would be my twin, but he’s more about locking his stash away and never using it. Not us. We gluttons know how to have a good time! Why don’t you move down here for the rest of eternity? We could be neighbors, roommates even!”

"As much as eternal suffering sounds awesome, it kinda loses its touch after a while, ya know?" Beetlejuice leaned back in his seat. "Doesn't it get boring torturing and killing souls over and over and they always come back? It's gettin' to a point where everyone expects it. I just wanna get out and have my kind of fun for a change! I wanna be with the living! I don’t want anyone or anything tying me down ever again."

"I hear ya, Ant-Wine. There's just something about the living that's so damn addicting. And I ain't just talking about tastes either! Why do you think I keep risking my existence for the biggest gluttons out there? And what's your job on the surface again? It sounds hilarious!"

"A bio-exorcist. Y'know how the living try to take out demons? I, a demon, take out the living for the dead." Beetlejuice jerked a thumb to his own chest with pride, then shrugged after thinking about it. “Granted, I can’t affect the living and I’m getting ghosts to make the living say my name, but it’s a good gig.”

“Well, ya don’t need to worry about that anymore once we get to the spot!” Bee assured him as he checked to see if anything else were following them, then sighing when they were in the clear. “I got some of my followers on the surface getting themselves into position. When we get there, I possess the leader, say your name three times, and we both get summoned into the land of the living. We scare and eat as much as we want, grow as we please, and we split the world and possibly the universe fifty-fifty!”

“Eighty-twenty.” Beetlejuice challenged.

“Seventy-thirty.”

“Sixty-forty, plus I get a Broadway musical and say-so on the merch!” The green-haired demon pointed finger guns at the other while winking. 

“Deal!” Both demons shook on it. 

“ _Ay dios mio_ , is that what you were planning all this time?!” A tiny, muffled voice squeaked all of a sudden that almost made the two demons jump. Hearing the source near him, Beetlejuice blinked and glanced down at one of his shirt pockets. He reached to open it when a small head poked out of the pocket. A blueish-green head with long red hair that Beetlejuice recognized from anywhere.

"Teresa?! What are you doing here?" He exclaimed as he almost fell backwards in his seat. The woman in question stood up from her spot in the pocket and lifted her arm to point up at him. 

"I could ask you the same thing, _mi canalla_! Here I am, riding and sliding in your pocket instead of taking my well-earned, once-in-a-death time break! Do you know how much paperwork I needed to file to get it approved?!" Teresa scolded while almost ripping strands of her own hair out, then sighed as she pinched her forehead and muttered in Spanish briefly. "I saw you leaving the Netherworld and I got worried, so I followed you and hid in here while you shifted."

At that, the dead-born demon scowled and crossed his arms. "There's nothin' ta worry about. I'm fine on my own!" 

Beelzebub glanced from the wheel to see the tiny spirit and gave a slight smirk, reaching to poke her with his pointer finger. "Huh... So your guardian ghost is Miss Argentina?" At that, Teresa snapped her fingers and pushed the large appendage away. 

"That's Miss Teresa Maria Argentina to you, buster! No touching!" She craned her head up to the giant that carried her. “Who does this guy think he is, anyway?”

“This guy is the demon prince of Gluttony.”

Teresa scoffed, then did a double take and stared at Bee again. "Huh. Not what I expected for the king of all pigs."

" _La adulación la llevará a todas partes, Señorita_. And there's more to gluttony than just eating." The demon crooned, focusing back onto the street. “We’re in the age of excess, honey, and you’re a part of it whether you like it or not.”

“Oh no, I’m not going to be in your little scheme of yours! Which, by the way, will backfire!” Miss Argentina pointed out before crossing her arms in disapproval.

“You can come to the land of the living with us?” Beetlejuice offered with a grin. Before Teresa could reply, both she and the dead-born jolted forward when Beelzebub suddenly put on the brakes. The three looked out the window to see an entire row of demons barricading the street. Some demons had motorcycles and their own cars while others stood with their hulking bodies alone. All of them came in different shapes and sizes. A particular demon who looked more like a chubby dragon in form stepped forward from the crowd of angry demons. 

“Beetlejuice, we got ya surrounded! Come outta the glutton's car. We just need ta talk!” The dragon demon bellowed with a brash voice. 

Beetlejuice let out a laugh, his hair turning a bit yellow at the tips as he opened his window and waved. "Heeeeeey, Rosco! How's the femur?" A growl and glare was his only reply.

"Go on ahead! I'll see if I could blow these guys off and contact Mintaka to back us up! I'll catch up with you two when I can." Beelzebub ordered. Without waiting for an answer, he revved up his engine and made a sharp 180 turn. Magma spewed from between the wheels and created a large wave of molten rock, causing the line of demons to scramble away from it.

“Now!” Beelzebub shouted as Beetlejuice's door opened by itself. The ghost didn't need to be told twice. He flew out of the car and landed on his feet before he ran into a nearby alleyway. A few demons and imps who had avoided the magma followed him.

Teresa clung to the edge of the shirt pocket for dear afterlife as her giant mode of transportation moved quickly. Yes, she was dead, but that didn't mean she was immune to pain. It was also a force of habit. 

Beetlejuice cursed at himself. It would've been much easier if he were at the surface and he could just teleport himself away. He didn't have that luxury in Hell. Seeing a wired fence up ahead, he had a plan. He pulled at his hair three times as if grabbing something, then he seemed to throw something invisible to his pursuers. All of a sudden, three clones of himself appeared in front of the demons, blocking them from their path as he leapt onto the fence and clambered up to the other side.

"Damn that rat!" One imp exclaimed in frustration. Beetlejuice smirked and continued moving. After a while, he came across an open clearing and an entrance to a burning park covered in glowing stalagmites. They were close to the summoning spot. The ghost with the most cheered, jumping into the air and pumping his fist. Nothing could ruin his moment! He took a few steps forward...

... only to get tackled by a large dust cloud consisting of Rosco and Beelzebub clawing and gnawing at each other. Beetlejuice snarled as his nails and fangs sharpened, trying to push both demons off of him while biting and scratching anyone who came too close. Teresa ducked down to the safety of the shirt pocket, questioning her afterlife choices. The ball of fighting seemed to stop when both Beetlejuice and Beelzebub grabbed Rosco by the shoulders and slammed him to the side of a building. 

"Ha!" The two demons exclaimed in victory. The impact was so great, it caused the building to break in half and topple over, hitting the building next door. And the one after that. And the one after that. Soon, there was a giant building version of dominoes falling one by one until it stopped at a particular office building where two demons were having a meeting.

"BETELGEUSE/BEELZEBUB!" Two voices roared suddenly, echoing all over Hell and possibly the Netherworld as well. Both demons in question stood up straight, let go of the dragon demon, and winced in unison. 

"Oh crap."

* * *

Before either of them knew it, the two demons and the spirit found themselves in Lucifer's domain, tensed and unaware of what would transpire. As Bee got dragged away in chains, Beetlejuice stood in the middle of the hallway and averted his eyes from Juno's sight, his hair and outfit turning a gloomy violet as his wrists shifted from the handcuffs behind him. Teresa stood on the director's shoulder, not saying a word. 

"Why doesn't this surprise me one bit?" Juno stated calmly, only to shriek when Beetlejuice opened his mouth to speak. "You damn fool! You couldn't give me just one year of peace without screwing it up!"

"But mom-!"

"BUT NOTHING! I'll deal with you later." Juno raised the palm of her hand, causing Beeltejuice to stumble backwards and freeze. Without delay, she then took out a piece of chalk from her hair and drew a tiny door on the nearby wall. She knocked on the door three times with her pinky and the door opened up to reveal green mist. She then aligned herself so the ghost on her shoulder was in front of the entrance. 

"I take it you enjoyed your relaxing break?” Juno asked in a saccharine tone. Not waiting for an answer, she exclaimed. “Now get back to work! We just got a bus load of casino gamblers who are probably going to fight with the football players and do who knows what. And no word of what you saw here to the others, understand?”

"Yes, ma'am." Teresa nodded as she held herself while trying to look as professional as possible. She strutted to the door, but stopped just as she was about to enter. She turned her head to look back at Beetlejuice who tried not to make eye contact with her. With a sympathetic frown, she gave a slight wave and made her exit, the door shutting behind her. Beetlejuice looked to the door and sighed, only to yelp when his handcuffs tugged him forward.

“Come on, Lawrence. Satan’s waiting for you.” Juno ordered, walking ahead past her son. She beckoned her finger and the handcuffs tugged again, forcing Beetlejuice to follow her. They went down the hallway and entered the last room which was filled to the brim with demons and imps like a courtroom. Most of them were either involved with recent events or were nearby. There were conversations between their groups until the Shoggoths entered the room, causing the room to become silent. 

Juno took Beetlejuice to the front of the stand where the Cardinal Council sat in tall podiums waiting for him. The Cardinal Council consisted of powerful demons who embodied the seven main cardinal sins known to humans. Belphegor of Sloth was dozing off in his seat. Leviathan of Envy was writing a few notes to themselves. Asmodeus of Lust brushed his pink long locks with a comb and some help with a breeze he summoned. Mammon of Greed fidgeted with his coins like always. Beelzebub of Gluttony managed a subtle wave to the dead-born. Last but not least, Lucifer stood at the tallest podium. Despite popular belief, he had the honor of having both Pride and Wrath in his repertoire. Nothing changed about him except that he had more fur and goat features at the moment. Beetlejuice took his place in front of the council, but felt the force from his mother staying with him. Once everyone was accounted for, Lucifer cleared his throat and drummed his claws on the podium.

“Out of all the dead-borns we have in Hell and all over, you have got to be the most stubborn pain in the ass I ever met.” He started, glaring down at the dead-born.

"Lucy, hey! How ya doin'? Your horns look extra-curly today." Beetlejuice casually greeted with a wink.

"Flattery will get you nowhere with me, Lawrence." The goat demon deadpanned. Beetlejuice felt his handcuffs tugging him back and he glanced to see his mother's disapproving frown. Swallowing the negativity for now, he returned his attention to the one in charge.

"C'mon, Lucifer. Let's talk demon to demon, huh? Sure, I snuck down here to hang out with one of the most powerful demons in Hell and destroyed a few things, but what demon hasn't?" The ghost with the most laughed and shrugged. "Besides, it's not like the first few times I messed up here."

“Oh, where do I begin with that?” Lucifer asked in a sardonic tone before he pulled out a large scroll from behind his back and unraveled it. The paper dropped on the ground and continued to roll onto the ground, stretching out of the room and seeming to continue rolling. Yellow strands of hair started to appear on Beetlejuice’s head. 

“Surely, you must be exaggerating!” An imp who stood below the podium exclaimed in disbelief, leaning over to read the long scroll. 

“This is Beetlejuice we’re talking about. Am I? Let’s read a few random ones, shall we?” The ruler of Hell took out a pair of eyeglasses and placed them on before skimming to a random spot on the list. “There was the time that he and another dead-born managed to freeze all of Hell for a while because, and I quote, ‘We need to have a snow day’.”

"We really needed one!" Beetlejuice shot back in defense. "I've seen breathers enjoy those all the time and Mint owed me one!"

Lucifer chose not to answer as he continued, "You let all the hellhounds loose and insisted that Cerberus should go on a 'play-date'."

"Hey, what Spot and I have is something special! They and Sandy would get along great eating souls and all."

"They are _MY_ pet!"

"Eh... you say 'pet', I say 'furry and fun three-headed acquaintance'."

"And let's not forget the 'food' incident when you somehow managed to make the Netherworld smell like coconut, Hell smell like guacamole, and nearly consumed a hundred souls assigned to a specific place in Hell!" Nearly every demonic being in the room shuddered at the memory. 

At the last offense, Beetlejuice shuddered as he nodded in agreement. "Okay, now that was a mistake I will never do again. The last time I would ever make anything in the Lust district. We'll leave it at that! No offense, Azzy."

"None taken." Asmodeus muttered from his seat, not knowing whether to bleach the memory from his brain or keep it.

"The point is you've been causing trouble both here and the Netherworld for centuries despite your curse and I'm at my limit for the last time!" Lucifer sneered, rolling the scroll of crimes back up and making it disappear.

The demons, imps, and four members of the Cardinal Council talked amongst themselves. No doubt they were talking about Beetlejuice and how annoying he was. Beelzebub raised his hand.

"Hey, Satan. It was my idea in the first place. B-Juice was just going along with it. Can't we just lock him outta Hell for a while and curse me instead?" The demon of Gluttony offered. The demon of Pride and Wrath glared at him.

"Oh look at you, trying to act all _noble_!" Lucifer's voice went up a pitch as he clasped his hands in mockery before he dropped the act and adjusted his glasses with a frown, earning a glare from Bee. "Don't play cute with me. He'll just somehow come here and you two will cause mayhem again!"

"You took the words right out of my mouth." Juno commented drily. The mutters and clamor resumed until Lucifer smacked the side of the podium with his tail hard, causing the room to be silent. 

"What we need is a more... proper punishment. A curse that'll make sure you get the message through that thick skull of yours." With a wave of his wrist, a hefty folder of papers stamped with Beetlejuice's name on it appeared on the podium. Lucifer then started skimming through the file. This continued for a minute or two until his eyes widened at a particular page. He glanced at the dead-born.

"You're obsessed with humans, right? I believe you call them breathers in the Netherworld. You and Bee have that much in common."

No one said a word. Beelzebub averted his gaze from everyone, sinking into his seat as he wanted to be anywhere but there. Juno blew a smoke ring, keeping her thoughts to herself. Beetlejuice continued to glare at the ruler of Hell from his position. Lucifer placed down the stack of papers and took off his eyeglasses to stare at the other. He was silent for a moment until he gave a slight smirk. 

"Since you like breathers so much, I should give you what you want. It is what you deserve, after all." He rubbed his claws against his chest before he pointed one at the dead-born. "Lawrence Betelgeuse Shoggoth, you are still banished to the world of the living and cannot say your true name, but I'm adding a few details so you'll stay put. The first one? I'm sealing you to the one item that'll be your downfall."

Lucifer snapped his fingers and a flame burst up from the ground, forming a specific shape. When Beetlejuice noticed what the shape was, he paled. 

"No... Not that. Anything but that!" He exclaimed.

"Oh, yes that. Congratulations, you're going to be... _LITERATURE_!" The flames died down and a large book with a black cover floated in the air. Upon seeing it, Beetlejuice dropped to his knees and screamed dramatically.

"But I can't spell! You maniac!"

"And that's not all! You will be sealed inside this book for all eternity unless you can bond with a living person. It could be any type of bond as long as it's genuine and strong. I'll add some more rules for you to read at your leisure. Until then, only a breather who can read your book could set you free and we all know the chances of that happening!" Lucifer laughed, causing everyone to join him. He then turned to Juno, raising an eyebrow. "This curse alright with you, Juno?"

"Beetlejuice becoming the very thing he destroys? Now that's something I would like to see." The director of Netherworld Customs almost grinned at that. Her son stared at the ground, the purple on his body and hair getting deeper. Seeing that Juno had no complaints, Lucifer then addressed everyone else. 

"All those in favor of turning Betelgeuse into a book and throwing him out, say 'Eye'."

"Eye!" Everyone in the room except Beetlejuice and Beelzebub raised their hands, some of the demons even held up their own eyeballs. Lucifer took a quick scan and grinned. 

"It's settled. Majority rules. Time to go. Bye, Bug-Beverage!" With a sadistic glint in his eye, the demon ruler snapped his fingers. The large book floated in the air and opened itself, its pages flipping and glowing until it stopped at the center of the book. Once it stopped, a swirling vortex appeared on both pages, acting as a powerful wind current as chains shot out from the book and connected with the ghost's handcuffs to pull him in. Beetlejuice panicked. 

"No, wait! I'll behave, I promise! Not this, anything but this! Satan, the things I do ta get a different beginning from the original source material!" Beetlejuice cursed as he gripped at the ground to hold himself from the wind current and chains pulling at him. It only increased the suction, causing some demons and imps to brace themselves.

His claws dug deep onto the floor as he was dragged by his chains towards the book. Gritting his fangs, Beetlejuice reached out to Beelzebub and cried out, _"Tell my story!"_ Before the gluttony demon could respond, the ghost with the most was sucked into the book and it slammed itself shut. 

Everyone in the room applauded and let out a sigh of relief. With a deadpan expression on his face, Beelzebub got up from his seat.

"Well... that was fun." Bee yawned and rolled his eyes, pointing to the other side of the room. "I'm out!"

"Ah-ah-ah. Not so fast!" Satan crooned and grabbed the orange-haired demon by the shirt collar to stop his escape. "I haven't forgotten about you nor my original plan. Just need to put the finishing touches..."

Without any explanation, Lucifer pulled Beelzebub's arm towards his face and bit at the other's thumb, causing the latter to scream. He then slammed Beelzebub's left hand onto the book. Black blood seeped from the thumb and spread onto the entire book, glowing orange upon contact. When he felt that there was enough, Lucifer took off Bee's hand and waved over the book, causing the glow to fade. With that, the seals were complete.

Having watched everything, Juno stared at the book her son was in, her face expressionless. She then took a drag of her cigarette and glanced away, almost relieved. "Let the living deal with him now."

"Where should we drop 'im, boss?" An imp asked as it hopped next to Lucifer, ready to complete the deed once and for all.

"The one place rarely anyone would find it so easy." The ruler of Hell replied after a bit of thought. "A place no one would ever expect such a powerful book to be!"

* * *

Late at night on the surface where the living dwelled, a red portal opened up above the sleepy town of Winter River, Connecticut. The black book fell out from the portal, its blank pages fluttering with the air as the portal immediately closed back up. The book continued to fall until it reached above an old tall house on a hill, going through the roof and landing right inside the attic of the house where it waited for someone, anyone worthy, to open and read it. 


	2. Welcome To Winter River

On Interstate Highway 95, it was a cloudy late morning in Southern Connecticut. A silver Corolla drove quickly through the lanes of cars and trucks, searching for the right exit. 

"I know it's here somewhere! Why did I have to lose the exact address?" A man scowled as he gripped at the wheel while driving. He was tall and husky with brown hair and a beard, wearing a grey business suit and tie. Sitting next to him in the passenger seat was a red-haired woman that wore her hair in a stylish bun, a purple and black striped dress, and a crystal tied around her neck.

"Charles, it's alright. I have the address on the GPS. We're three exits away." She assured him with a smile. 

Charles smiled back in relief. "Thank you, Delia. Sorry. It's just that we only have about a week to transform the old house I bought here into the flagship model home of my new gated community. It has to be perfect! All I have to do now is to convince Maxie Dean of my project. If I get Maxie Dean in my corner, the investments will pour in. He's my white whale!"

"I don't see race." Delia commented in response. Charles glanced at his rear-view mirror to check the cars, only to do a double take as he noticed something laying in the backseat that made him sigh.

"Lydia, stop playing dead in the backseat. I’m trying to drive."

From the backseat, a fifteen-year-old girl sighed as she sat up, adjusting her black dress adorned with safety pins and short dark brown hair. Her matching black boots idly poked at a traditional black camera by her feet.

"Charles, you must relax." Delia recalled as she briefly placed a hand on the man's shoulder. "Remember what my guru, Otho, always says: every success begins with sucks, but ends with yes. Sucks-yes!"

"Sucks-yes, indeed." Came Lydia's reply from the back, then silence. Charles was about to comment when he arrived at the designated exit and drove towards it. 

For fifteen years, the Deetzes were a normal family who lived in a cozy house in Brooklyn, New York. There was Charles, the business man who specialized in investments and real estate. There was Emily, a stay-at-home mom who was also a writer. And then there was Lydia, Charles and Emily's bundle of joy. Sure they had their eccentric moments, but they wouldn't had have it any other way. 

Then Emily Deetz passed away. 

Both father and daughter were devastated. Charles had hired Delia Schlimmer as a life coach for Lydia, but the grieving process had stagnated at best. Perhaps a change of atmosphere was needed.

The town of Winter River got its name from the several rivers and streams that it had including the one that led straight to the harbor and the ocean. Although the winter season was colder up north from the town, Winter River was rumored to be its most beautiful whenever the snow should fall.

It seemed that the town was a mixture of different landscapes and types as Charles drove through. There were the typical suburbs and cul-de-sacs scattered here and there. Supermarkets and fast food places lined up in rows of the post road. The harbor and beach areas had ice cream shops and pristine tennis courts. Next to the highway was a recently built mall. The downtown area had family-owned shops, apartments, and swamps with deer and turkeys crawling out. Surrounding the town were fields that stretched for several yards and forests that housed mini-skyscraper trees and held their own secrets. As Charles and Delia partook in occasional conversation, Lydia picked up her camera and snapped a few photos. 

The house Charles bought sat on a hill five or ten minutes away from downtown. Lydia glanced from her window to see a white house with a grey roof towering over the car. She lowered her camera and stared at the three-story building in awe. Even though she'd rather turn back home, she had to admit that there was something peculiar about the house and she didn't know whether she liked it or not. 

When the Corolla stopped at the side of the house and parked, Delia rummaged through her purse until she took out an ordinary triangle. She got out of the car and scurried to the front of the house. Before their trip, she insisted that she'll be the first to come out and check for any energies in the new house. She hit the triangle with the metal stick and its sound rang clear across the front yard. Hearing the sound for a minute, the red-haired woman nodded.

"There's good energy here! Very good energy." Delia beamed in satisfaction.

"Glad you like it. I took a big risk buying this place." Charles said as he and Lydia got out of the car as well. He walked up to the front step and observed the house, wincing at the paint and the decor. "Can you believe people actually lived here? It looks like a nursing home for sad cats. I really hope it's not as bad inside."

"Don't you worry, Charles. If we make it look fabulous, no one will ever know that it's actually crushingly insecure and older than it says it is!"

"So, who're the people that are going to move here?" Lydia asked as she walked up to the two adults, her camera hanging around her neck. It was then that Delia turned to Charles, a worried look on her face.

"Charles, you didn't-?" Charles cut her off when he cleared his throat and gently moved her towards the front door with a laugh. Getting the message, Delia went inside.

“Lydia, Delia and I are going to check out the house! Why don’t you wait for the truck to get here and explore the backyard?” He suggested with a strained smile. His daughter raised an eyebrow and blinked before shrugging.

“If you say so.” Lydia said as she held her camera ready. At least there would be some good shots she could take that wouldn’t make coming here a total waste. She took a few steps forward to peek around the house.

"And don't go too far!" Her father added before heading inside.

"I won't!" Lydia rolled her eyes. She snapped a picture of the house, then started walking. There were a few strong gusts of wind that played with her hair as she trudged along the grass to find something interesting.

At the back of the house down the hill was a small river that streamed calm waters across the field and a forest on the other side of the river bank. With a big grin on her face, Lydia rushed down the hill to check it out. 

Forests and trees weren't new to Lydia. There were two medium trees in front of her house that sprouted from the sidewalk, there were times where her parents would take her to a park in the Bronx or Central Park, and in one vacation, they went further upstate to visit relatives. However, as she reached the river and walked across it by stepping onto some large stones sticking out of the water, the nature of the forest and river here seemed to come out of a brochure or calendar. The light green grass and warm-colored leaves were brighter. The water looked clear enough to drink right from her hands. Even the breeze seemed delicate and powerful at the same time. This was something that New York didn't have.

Lydia entered the forest and stared up at the treetops, snapping more pictures. Nearly all of the trees had yellow, red, orange, and brown leaves that crowded against every branch like clumpy clouds. There were a few pine trees scattered around as well. There were already piles of leaves piling up into small to medium lumps. With a smirk, she hopped onto every leaf pile she could find. She and her mother both loved how the leaves would crunch and crumble between their feet as if they were destroying each leaf's corpse. It reminded her of her walks in the park when she was little. Once she was tired of hopping, she leaned against a tree trunk to catch her breath.

"Hey, Dead Mom." Lydia said aloud as she glanced up in the trees, not knowing whether or not to stare up or look around. "It's me again. Have you seen Connecticut yet? It's beautiful here! I wish you were here with me to really see it. It's just the type of town to read Edgar Allen Poe in."

She grabbed a particularly long branch from the ground and brushed it against a nearby tree as she continued, "Dad doesn't know whether to take me back to public school or a private school yet. I think you were still talking about it with him before... well..." She sniffled and averted her eyes to the ground. 

"Anyway, as much as this town can be spooky, I can't wait to get back home to talk to you some more. I don’t know why Dad’s so interested in seeing this house and working away from home more. Well, he does it sometimes, but you know what I mean." Lydia sighed and dropped the stick, rubbing one of her arms up and down at a slow pace. Sometimes, she felt ridiculous talking to her dead mother like this. Sometimes, she wouldn't have it any other way. "The truth is... things have been really weird ever since you died. I don't know what to do. I wish you could say something back. Like any advice or a comment or just 'I don't know what to do either'! Talk to you soon. Chrysanthemum."

Lydia blew a kiss to the air. She was about to head back up the hill when she heard a noise. A fluttering noise. She glanced up to see something flying towards her direction. A large black object seemed to fall from the sky. Was it from one of the trees? The house? Maybe an airplane or helicopter passing by? Wherever it came from, she had to find out! Lydia rushed forward with open arms and aligned herself before she dove in and caught the object in her hands, landing in a large pile of leaves while doing so. Shaking her head vigorously to get the leaves out of her hair, Lydia glanced down to see a book in her arms. 

The book itself was a large one that took up half her arm. It looked like one of those heavy encyclopedias in a library or the dreaded high school/college textbooks she heard about. It was pure black as if it were made of obsidian, blanketed in dust. It had no title, yet there were designs all over the book that looked like vines and faded white stripes covering the spine. The neat swirl-like vines were a faded orange. A faded green beetle was carved at the center of the front cover.

"Whoa..." Lydia muttered, her eyes sparkling with interest. At least there was something good about coming to Winter River. With a huge grin, she opened the book and flipped through the pages. The cover page of the book had a detailed drawing of the Orion Constellation and a dotted line at the bottom with a statement above: 'This Book Belongs To', followed by a blank space. The rest of the pages were different. Half the book was completely blank. The other half had words that she skimmed through, but there were spaces in between paragraphs.

Lydia smirked a little at that. It was probably one of those creative activity journals for writers. Her mom loved those when she was alive. 

“Mom, check out this book! It looks so cool!” Lydia held up the book in her hands, then dropped her arms down when she realized how silly she must sound. She then stared up in thought. Did her Dead Mom give her this book from somewhere above? Lydia wasn’t extremely religious. Her family celebrated the holidays and one time, she and her mom talked about what animal or object they would reincarnate into when they were dead out of boredom. Right now, she didn’t know what to believe. She just hoped that either her mom was in some kind of heaven or maybe her mom was still with her someway or somehow. She had to be! With a tiny ray of hope shining down on her, the teenager raced back to the house on the hill book in hand, unaware of the beetle glimmering in the sunlight.

* * *

By the time Lydia got back to the house, three moving trucks had already parked and started bringing in boxes and furniture. Lydia recognized some of the items such as Delia's 'artwork' and the new sofa her dad bought. They were donating a lot of stuff to this gated community thing. An idea just then struck her and she scanned around herself until she spotted a couple of white flowers and plucked them from the ground. She ran towards the sofa and hopped onto it, laying herself down and crossing her arms as if she were in her own casket. Her camera, book, and flowers rested against her breathing chest. She closed her eyes and relaxed her breathing. Two men went up to the sofa, stared for a couple of seconds at the strange display, shrugged, then picked up either end of the sofa, bringing it inside.

Lydia kept her eyes closed, but she took a quick peek to see her father observing the rustic living room and typing away on his tablet. When the sofa was placed down, she greeted, "Hey, Dad. Does this couch make me look dead?"

Charles paused from his typing and glanced at Lydia before turning back to the screen to type out the last email to send, shaking his head. "I'm not going to answer a question like that. How was outside?"

"Not bad." She replied as she sat back up with the book on her lap. "The water is very streamy and the leaves are crunchier here. Also a book fell out of the sky."

"Good. Sounds like a nice country autumn view for the new community!"

Lydia groaned and pulled on her eyelids. Busy as ever. She took off her camera and placed it on the sofa, then got up and walked towards her father. "Dad, how long are we staying here? I wanna go home."

"About that... I know this is all of a sudden," Charles began with a tentative smile as he put the tablet down, placed a hand on Lydia's shoulder, and gestured to the entire house. "But what if I told you that this is our home?"

Lydia smirked and let out a chuckle. "I would ask if you slid off the banister, hit your head onto the bottom step, and got retrograde amnesia because this isn't our home."

"I figured you'd say that." Charles almost chuckled himself, a rare genuine smile on his face. "What I meant to say was that after... everything we've been through; I think the both of us could use a fresh start. So, we're selling our house and we're going to live here!" 

"Wait, what?!" All at once, Lydia's heart and smile crashed down and the world stopped. No wonder her father and Delia were acting weirder than usual and got involved with the community project! She then exclaimed, "Why didn't you tell me?!"

"I'm sorry, but if I told you beforehand, you wouldn't have gone here. This is what we need right now."

"No, you can't! Dead Mom loved that house! You can't just sell it away like nothing!"

"... Dead Mom?" Now it was Charles's turn to stop and stare in disbelief. "Lydia, I-"

"Dad, please! Our whole life was in that house." Lydia placed the book down onto one of the small desks and grabbed her father's hands in a firm grip. She stood there for a minute, fighting back the urge to yell at her father. She took a deep breath, then glanced up at him. “Remember when we first moved in? The house was all rundown and horrible with pigeons living in the bathroom and actual rats as our next door neighbors. We didn't know how we were gonna get through it. Then Mom said, 'Let's clean up'." 

With a tearful smile at the memory, she turned her back to Charles and pretended to hold a broom in her hands as Charles automatically placed his hands on her shoulders with a shaky grip. His eyes closed up and his body tense. They both didn't notice Delia coming in from the kitchen door and listening in from behind a counter. 

"She would pick up a broom and make us sing that song she always loved whenever it came on the radio. Remember?" Lydia asked with hope before she sang in a soft tone. _"Shake... shake... shake, Señora. Shake your body-"_

All of a sudden, Charles let go and pushed himself away from his daughter, putting both his hands up as he shook his head. "Look, I have work to do... For months, you've moped around, dressed in black and obsessing about death!"

"... I'm in mourning." Was Lydia's simple reply as she crossed her arms. Charles hesitated.

"Yes ... but we need to move forward! All of us!" He let out a rumbling laugh as more artwork, furniture, and boxes were coming in. "Keep it coming, gentlemen!" Finally, he was getting some progress done. He started going up the stairs to set up his office when he stopped and turned to Lydia. 

"Now, Maxie Dean will be here for dinner in a few days. Almost a week to make this a model home... With a model family inside it." Charles narrowed his eyes at that. "Lydia, I know you won't let me down." With a nod, he headed upstairs. 

The teenager sighed, "Oh sure... it'll be a shame to let other people down."

Just then, Delia entered the living room, knocking onto the walls softly as she did so with a smile. “Knock, knock. Who’s there? Happiness!”

“No!” Lydia shot back, almost shrieking as she pretended to close an imaginary door in the air and stomped towards the couch, flopping on top of it. 

"I know this is a lot to handle, but as my guru Otho says, 'Sadness is like kale salad. No one likes it. Throw it out!'" Delia tried to reassure as she walked over. She stopped when she spotted the black, white, and orange book on the desk. "What's this?"

"A book I found in the forest. Probably belongs to a witch in some spooky cabin." Lydia grumbled. Delia picked up the book and dusted it with her hand, then opened it and flipped through the pages.

"Huh... it's blank." The woman said, surprised at such an empty book left outside. "It must be a new journal someone lost while hiking. That happened to me once! Only that it was at a ski resort and I lost the keys to my cabin. Since it doesn't have a name on it, you could use it as a positivity diary!"

Lydia almost gagged at the thought. However, it didn't seem so bad to keep it as a journal and pretend to write spells in it. She reached her hand out for the book as she gave a slight smirk. "You could say it's something like that." As Delia gave back the book, the girl started thinking. Either she could wait it out and give the new house and town a chance or find a way back to her home where her mother was waiting for her.

"Hey, Delia. Can I go out and explore town? It's still daylight."

"What did Charles say about that?"

Lydia stood up as tall as she could with her hands to her hips as she roared in her best ‘Dad voice’, "Don't you dare think of getting into trouble today, Lydia Chrysanthemum Deetz!"

"Then you can't head out into town by yourself." Delia nodded with a giggle, then clapped her hands together as she squealed. "And that is a beautiful name! We would need to reflect that more!"

"Ugh!" Lydia fell backwards onto the couch in defeat. She grabbed the book, flipped it over to the back and pressed her mouth against it as she screamed a muffled cry. Delia bent down to Lydia's level and reached a hand to pat the teen's head, but hesitated. 

"Just because you can't go alone doesn't mean I can't go with you. Let's make it a girl's day out!" The woman gasped at the idea. "We need to get groceries and new outfits anyway. I refuse to let your father order fancy meals and take-out forever. We also need to save up for catering that important business dinner."

Lydia stopped to think of the pros and cons spending time with her life coach. She then shrugged, glancing up towards the stairs."... Beats staying at the house."

* * *

Soon after, Lydia found herself in the backseat of her father's car on account of doing errands with Delia counted as a good life coaching experience. In reality, Lydia needed a clear head if she were to go back to New York. Back to her home. Or what was left of it. As Delia reversed the car and drove away, the teen looked at the book in her hands before opening to the cover page. She took out a pen from a backseat pocket and clicked it to open. She then printed her name on the dotted line:

_Lydia Chrysanthemum Deetz._

Lydia flipped to the next page, not noticing her name glowing when she did. She stared at the blank glittery page. What should she write about? Her mother was more of a writer than she was. Perhaps she could make it a scrap-booking journal of her daring escape back to New York. As she glanced at the clouds in the sky, she started writing. 

_ My name is Lydia Deetz and today I'm going to be a witch... _

* * *

The ride to downtown was peaceful and ordinary. Delia would try to start a conversation and instill some positive advice whereas Lydia would either retort back or take pictures of any interesting shops or people on the streets. After driving around to see what was available, Delia first stopped at a dress store to see any rare dresses before her trip to the mall. As she looked through a wardrobe on display, Lydia sat nearby on a stool, bored out of her mind. Suddenly, she got an idea and stood up, tapping on Delia's shoulder.

"Hey, Delia? Knock-knock." Lydia knocked on the air and sported an innocent grin. 

Seeing this, Delia turned towards the girl and cooed, "Aww, okay! Um... who's there?"

"I don't know. You have to open the door to find out!" Lydia cooed back. 

"But that's not how knock-knock jokes work."

At that, the teen's face fell and she looked off to the side, mournful. "I guess you'll never know, then." She waited for at least a minute before Delia caved in. 

"Fine." The red-haired woman cleared her throat, then pretended to slowly open a door. "Creeeee-" Before she could open the 'door' right away, Lydia jumped in front of her and let out a monstrous roar that caused Delia to back up into a red dress, holding her chest in fright.

"Lydia, you are so weird." Delia gasped once she calmed down, then clapped her hands. "But we are going to change that with a new attitude and style!"

“That's no fun. This book will be my only friend for the rest of my miserable life.” Lydia moaned as she flopped back to the stool, picking up her new journal in the process. She flipped the book over to its side and repeatedly opened and closed the sides like a mouth.

“'Oh Lydia, why do we have to move to this strange place without your dead mom’s permission? End my suffering! Bleh!'” She mocked in a raspy tone of voice, opening the book completely wide and making gagging sounds before letting the book fall onto the ground. “See? We are killing literature, Delia.”

"That's not all that we're killing. Look at these outfits. I-"

"Knock-knock?" Lydia interrupted in monotone but Delia instantly pointed at her as she made her away across the store, staring at her suspiciously. 

"Nope! Not answering! I have a peephole and I can see you! You're scary, goodbye!"

* * *

Not wanting to stay out for too long, Delia decided to do her mall shopping the next day and stop at a market to see any good vegan meals before going back to the house. Shopping there was calm for the most part. Lydia kept to herself writing or commenting on any brand that she had never seen before. Everything was fine until the two passed by the cookie aisle and a sign advertising a deal for chocolate chip cookies. Lydia froze in mid-step, her eyes widening and her mouth almost watering. 

"Cookies..." She droned.

Delia chuckled. She found it amusing that in most situations, the scary teen could be placated with cookies. Not all the time though. "Alright, we could get cookies, but only what the sale says."

Lydia didn't need to be told twice. She dashed down the aisle and reached for the brand of cookies only to find that she and another hand grabbed a package at the same time and pulled, sending both her and the other person falling to the ground. 

"Oh my goodness, we are so sorry! Are you okay, Miss?" A brown haired woman ran up with her cart, her face fallen with worry. Her hair was tied in a long braided ponytail and she wore a pale yellow t-shirt and jeans.

"I'm fine..." Lydia groaned as she rubbed her head. Once she recovered from the shock, she took a good look at her cookie opponent. The other person looked like a girl around her age with medium blonde hair and light green eyes. Her pink shirt and green pants made her look like a flower. Something that looked like a graphic novel was in the girl's other hand. The other girl groaned as well.

"Ow, that was some fall! Sorry about that. I didn't think I'd bump into someone who likes chocolate-chip just as much as I do. I'm Alice. Alice Winters. You can call me Allie." She introduced herself with a small smile, stretching out her hand. 

Lydia returned the smile with her own, shaking Allie's hand. "Lydia. Lydia Deetz. Charmed."

"Lydia, you shouldn't run so fast down the aisle!" Delia chastised as she caught up with the teen and panted. The woman, who was helping Allie up, smiled at the other. 

"Hi, I'm Rebecca Winters, Allie's mother. I'm so sorry about this. Both our girls seemed to like cookies so much, they almost toppled the entire shelf down!" Rebecca and Delia laughed at that.

"It's no trouble at all as long as no one gets hurt. It's nice to meet you, Rebecca, and what a nice essence you have! I'm Delia Schlimmer and I'm Lydia's life coach. We just moved in with her father from New York today."

"Oh really? On what street?"

"330 West Ryder Lane, I believe?"

Upon hearing that, Allie gasped. “You live there? That’s the haunted house.”

“Haunted?” That piqued Lydia's interest. She stood up in attention before leaning forward, a smile on her face. 

“Well, most people say it's haunted, but I don't know if I personally believe it." Rebecca shrugged, then leaned close to Lydia as her voice dropped to a whisper. "Strange things happened there though. A few months ago, a couple died in that house. The floorboards were weak and they fell through. I felt sorry for them. They were nice, ordinary people who spent almost ten years in that house."

"They say that the Mates can be heard moaning every full moon. Wooo-ooooooooo!" Allie howled as she wiggled her fingers. Her mother just smiled and shook her head.

"Girls, why don't you two get to know each other while I help Miss Schlimmer with getting to know the neighborhood?" Rebecca suggested.

"Great idea!" Delia squealed. It was a good opportunity for Lydia to make new friends. "I'll just call Charles to let him know we'll head home later."

As the two adults interacted, Allie and Lydia stood to the side to bask in the awkwardness.

"So your life coach and my mom are hitting it off well." Allie commented with a smirk.

Lydia rolled her eyes. "Yeah. Maybe she'll give me a break once in a while."

"Same here. I work with my mom at a flower shop and mom's been stressed out lately. She needs a distraction."

"Well, if you could somehow take Delia out of my life, that'll be great!" Lydia pointed to the novel. "What are you reading?"

"Fruits Basket. It's about this girl who meets this cursed family that can change into the Chinese Zodiac. And what about you?"

“Oh this?" Lydia held the black book up to her chest. "It's a journal I found in the woods. It fell out of the sky.”

“Like a Death Note?”

“Death Note? What’s that?”

“It’s this notebook that falls out of the sky in a high school once. If you write a person’s full name in it, they die. Usually a heart attack if you don’t specify.”

“Whoa, neat! Sounds right up my alley.” Lydia grinned, then checked the book from front to back. “I don’t think this is a Death Note, though. It’s more like some fill-in-the-blank spell book. Here.”

Lydia gave the book to the other. Allie stared in awe as she traced her fingers over the engravings. Even the dull beetle on the cover felt detailed with expert hands. She opened the book and flipped through the pages.

“You weren’t kidding! It’s definitely fill-in-the-blank. There are barely any words in here. Like this page for example. It just has the word 'Enlarge' at the top in capital letters.” Allie held up the book for Lydia to see. 

"It's not blank. It has some instructions on how to make objects and food bigger with a spell or a potion. It even has a few pictures." Lydia frowned as she squinted to read the text. It then came to her. When Delia observed the book, she said that everything was blank. "I'm the only one who could read this book. It must be magic after all."

"Well, whatever it is," The blonde teen gave Lydia the book back with a shrug. "Be careful with it. If I know anything from movies and manga, you don't mess with the supernatural. Especially if you're going to live at the Maitland house."

“Don't worry. I've seen enough horror films and I'll be careful. And I’m not gonna be there for long. I’m most likely going back to New York with my Dad as soon as possible. Dead Mom is waiting for me there.”

"Dead Mom? Sounds spooky and I like it! If you need something or just wanna hang out before your escape, stop by at Winters'. I'll write down the address. And good luck, Lydia Deetz."

* * *

The sun was setting by the time Delia and Lydia came home with bags. Charles was worried, but Delia reassured him that she made great progress with Lydia on their 'day-out'. Lydia just stayed quiet and helped put the groceries away. While the ladies were out, Charles managed to get the bedrooms set up. He left some boxes for Lydia to decorate and unpack in her bedroom. After dinner, the fifteen-year-old carried her journal up the stairs and down the hall. She stopped right at the middle, then glanced up at the ceiling.

"Hey, Dead Mom? If you can hear me, I need some help. It's serious this time." Lydia pleaded aloud. "Dad just wants me to be the perfect little girl and pretend everything's alright when it's not. He didn't lose a Mom. I don't know if you sent me this book, but please, send me a sign? Like a lightning strike or some deadly plague! I'm going insane and I'll do whatever it takes to make him say your name. Please back me up here. Chrysanthemum."

Lydia was about to head straight to her new room when she sensed something. It felt like a shiver going down her spine.

All of a sudden, from the corner of her eye, something green passed down the hallway. Although it was only a few seconds, it seemed like it was almost plaid. It couldn’t be her dad. He never wore plaid in his life. Either her eyes were playing tricks on her or there were real ghosts in the house like Allie and her mother said. She hoped for the latter. 

“Hey!” Lydia piped up. She thought she heard a yelp and a gust of wind respond to her. She immediately took off running towards the source. 

“Don’t be afraid! I won’t hurt you!” She called out, but whatever entity it was didn’t respond. She chased it down the hallway and up the stairs towards the attic when the door slammed shut on her face. When she grasped the knob and turned it, it didn't budge. Locked. If there were real ghosts in the house, they were probably frightened out of their minds. That or she had a very long day. Lydia decided to investigate the next day.

* * *

"Night, Dad! Night, Delia!" Lydia called out before closing her new bedroom door. The room was simple. Just a bed, closet, and a desk. She wouldn't dare decorate or she'll get too attached to the house. She appreciated the dark curtains, though. She got into her red spider web pajamas and brought both the black journal and her family photo album to bed with her. She opened the journal to write in it some more, then the album to stare at pictures of her mother. Back when she was alive and Lydia had a happy family. A happy home. She looked at a particular picture of herself around age nine or ten standing next to her mother and father just when they were moving into a new house. She stared at the smiling faces, then scanned her bedroom.

"You know, this house is pretty interesting." Lydia admitted with a smile, but then scoffed as she turned back to the black book. "I'm sure Dad will find a way to ruin it. But at least I have Dead Mom and you, book." Just when she was about to put pen to paper, green glowing markings started to appear at a slow pace as if the book... were writing itself? It seemed like half an hour it was writing, pausing as if to remember how to write the next letter. Lydia simply watched out of curiosity. Although it was chicken scratch at best, the letters were large and clear. Only one word was spelled out:

**BETELGEUSE.**

"Betelgeuse?" Lydia read aloud in a mutter. That was random. She expected it to greet her with a 'Hello' or 'Where the Hell am I?' like the movies.

As the word left her lips, there was a sudden chill in the air and the book felt heavy in her hands as if it were pushing against the mattress. The book then started to glow bright as it trembled. 

Lydia gasped, trying to pull away while the pages flipped over until it arrived at a blank page in the middle and she felt her left hand lift up and press its palm on the page much to her protest. She tried to speak, but she choked on her words as if she were breathless. 

A black ring formed around her wrist at a gradual pace, a white gem appearing around the center to close it. It then transformed into some sort of bracelet one would find at a summer camp. As the gem began to glow brighter and brighter, a gust of wind appeared in the room making the objects and bed shake. Lydia felt the room spinning faster and faster as she pulled harder but to no avail. It felt like her soul was struggling to stay in her body. She heard her voice cry out the word two more times...

... then everything went to a greenish dark.

* * *

From the depths of hell where darkness and magma reigned, there was a low buzz that spread throughout the area. A burst of light briefly flashed in the air, then a moment of silence. All of a sudden, the buzzing increased in volume and several pairs of orange eyes opened up.

“… Beej?” A masculine voice muttered in confusion. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the wonderful feedback from the last chapter. I was floored reading the comments so far! I hope you like this chapter just as much as I did. Here are some fun facts: I based some of Lydia's history, background, and experiences based on my experiences and my childhood. I also live in Connecticut, so I tried to mix the town based on the one from the film version as well as my town as well. I felt that, while also considering what's going to come, it's rare that we don't get much of Winter River in fanfics. Even though this may or may not break the theme of being trapped, I wanted to tackle some town-building if you will. 
> 
> As you can tell, there are going to be original characters in this story! I can't wait for you to meet them further on. Leave a kudos and/or comment and feel free to check me out on Tumblr as well!


	3. I Dream of Giants

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before we go to the chapter, I just want to say THIS STORY BLEW UP IN LESS THAN 24 HOURS AND I STILL CANNOT BREATHE OR BELIEVE IT! AND I'M GETTING ART ALREADY! AAAAAAHHHH-
> 
> That out of the way, here's the next chapter.

Lydia woke up with a start, the night sky greeting her as stars littered the air. Orion and his belt were clear and shining bright unlike how faded it was back in New York when it was covered by clouds or an airplane flew in its place. 

She sat up as she grabbed her forehead with a deep groan. What happened before she passed out? Oh right, she remembered. Her new journal just so happened to be a real spell book or something. Maybe it was the stress and mourning getting to her. She moved her hand to yawn into it when she stopped and stared. It seemed more pale and larger than usual. Her nails were painted black and chipped as if she had chewed on them. Finally, there was that weird black bracelet with the white gem still on her wrist. She raised her other hand to find the similar symptoms except that the other bracelet was white with a black gem. As her vision cleared, she focused on even more differences like wearing a suit, stripes, and weird black shoes instead of her normal dress and boots for one thing, let alone her pajamas. This is definitely not my body, she thought.

Lydia placed both her, or rather this being's hands on the striped shirt, noticing how large the stomach area was. She pressed against the belly and lightly shook it out of curiosity. It felt soft like one of those memory foam pillows and it jiggled like gelatin.

"Whoa, I look like a bloated zebra some lions ripped apart and didn't want to eat..." She commented aloud, only to cover her mouth with one hand upon hearing a gravely masculine voice instead of her own. It sounded as if she gargled glass or her vocal chords were rotting away and yet it didn't hurt. Just who or what was she now?

"What the Hell? Is that my voice?" She asked herself in disbelief before she frowned in thought. "Okay, either this is all a weird dream or that creepy and sketchy book turned me into a hideous giant." In either case, it didn't sound so bad and it didn't hurt her physically. Not yet anyway. She grinned. 

"Cool! I wonder what I look like!" With a grunt, Lydia heaved herself off the ground and stood up, dusting the dirt off her new suit. She swayed and almost tripped a little due to the sudden weight she had to get used to. She felt heavier and bigger than she thought. When she got her balance, she took her first few steps forward to search for a river or lake to look at. 

As Lydia walked, she noticed that most of the taller trees surrounding her went up to her chest in height and that walking in this new body wasn’t that difficult. She wore boots nearly all the time and there was a bounce to her step. After a couple of minutes, Lydia spotted a lake a few feet away and rushed over to it, bending down to see her new reflection. 

The giant definitely looked masculine with the broad, yet chubby physique and the dirty, green goatee that looked almost like a five-o-clock shadow against the pale skin. Was that mold or moss peppering her face? The hair was green with a bit of black in the roots and went up to a little past her shoulders. It almost reminded her of her own hair, only it was more of a flame cascading down like a waterfall. However, it was the eyes that intrigued her the most. Instead of her normal muddy brown, a pair of golden eyes stared back at her. 

Lydia poked at her face and dragged open an eyelid, then pulled the edge of her lip to reveal fangs and a striped black and purple tongue. She let go and let her mind wander. Who was this being? A giant from the fairy tales she read sealed in a book for their crimes? Maybe this was her own familiar that came with the spell book, capable of growing to massive heights!

“You would’ve totally loved this, mom.” Lydia said with a tearful smile. Her mom loved giants almost as much as ghosts, vampires, monsters, and Halloween. Although Lydia herself preferred to be the tiny human running around with giant monsters, she enjoyed the times that she would rampage across the land with her mom. The giant even seemed like something Emily would create for a story. Was this a sign as well?

"Well, whoever or whatever you are, you look creepy in a cool way." Lydia admitted to her reflection, then suddenly found herself smiling in response, her eyes widened in surprise. "Really? Thanks!"

Lydia blinked. What was that? Shrugging, she cupped her hands and lowered them into the lake, wincing at how cold the water was. Once she felt she had gathered enough to drink, she lifted her arms up and pressed her hands against her lips. She sipped at the water to feel it go down her system when she felt something moving down along with the water. Immediately, she coughed and gagged, pounding into her chest to get her throat clear. She had forgotten for a moment that living creatures lived inside the lake. 

"Please let it just be fish." Lydia croaked, her new voice sounding raspier than before. For all she knew, she could have swallowed a hidden lake monster. Just then, she heard a soft growl. Her eyes darted back and forth, believing that a wolf or a bear was nearby when she heard the growling again and she glanced down at her stomach. It rumbled in hunger, causing her to clench the side of it. 

It then occurred to Lydia. Now that she was a giant, what could she eat? There wasn't any giant food nearby and eating people wasn't part of her list. If anything, she could eat the witch who possibly cursed her and the book if she had to? She then shook her head, only to open her eyes wide in realization. If she were in a dream, maybe she could make anything happen! Rubbing her hands together with a smile, she outstretched her hands and wiggled her pale fingers. 

"Giant cookie, go!" She commanded, imagining a large sugar cookie to appear out of thin air.

Nothing happened.

She tried again. "A glass of milk?"

Again, nothing.

"Maybe give me the house made out of candy from Hansel and Gretel?"

After waiting a minute or two, Lydia crossed her arms and pouted. "This dream sucks." Maybe if she were lucky, she'd find one of those world-record giant food lying around somewhere. She stood up tall and searched until she saw the town of Winter River poking through the trees and rivers. She also spotted the new house which wasn't too far away from other houses, but it stood on its own by itself in its own little corner. 

"Hey, there's the town! And I can see the house from here! And there are two giant snakes near it!" Lydia cheered, only to blink in confusion. Wait, giant snakes near the house? This was totally a dream. She was about to dismiss it when she noticed one of the snakes. For some reason, it seemed familiar to her even though it was her first time seeing it in her life. Something tugged at her chest and she paled. 

"Holy crap, it's Sandy!" Lydia heard herself saying, rushing towards the snake creatures. She could feel the earth shake with each step she took. As she got closer to the house on the hill, she could tell there was something unusual about the snakes. 

The one that Lydia identified as 'Sandy' had black and white stripes, red eyes, and blue lips. What was most strange about Sandy was that she (Lydia immediately thought) had another head in her mouth and each mouth had pointy sharp fangs. The striped two-headed snake snarled, her body almost coiled around the house as she stood her ground so to speak. She seemed as tall as the house itself!

The other snake was similar in that it was also striped and had a head inside its mouth. However, it was twice as large, more red and orange in color, and had sharp horn-like spikes all over its top head. Its golden eyes glared at Sandy, both mouths sparking with tiny flames. It pulled itself back, ready to strike when Lydia slid between it and its opponent. Lydia outstretched her arms, blocking Sandy from any attacks despite being a few inches shorter than her.

"Leave Sandy and my house alone, you snake!" Lydia exclaimed with a frown. Sandy tilted her head in surprise of the other's entrance. Even the other creature was shocked, its flames dying down for a few seconds before it let out a few low hisses. Was it... laughing? It reared both heads back. Something bubbled inside Lydia like boiling water. As she glared at the snake, she didn't register her body growing at a gradual pace or her hair and clothes turning red or the warm-colored snake having a drained expression on its face as it got smaller and smaller.

“I said: Leave. Us. **Alone.** ” She repeated in a dark low growl. Before the snake creature could get away, she grabbed it by the tail and lifted it up to her face. It roared and writhed about, trying to coil against her hand and get away. Lydia smirked. It was now the size of a normal snake to her instead of a giant fire-breathing monstrosity. 

Just then, her stomach growled again. Without another thought, Lydia licked her lips as she stared at the snake. For whatever reason, something in the back of her mind told her that it was food. It wasn’t a person or an innocent creature, so she complied. She opened her mouth wide, pushed both heads inside her mouth, and swallowed with no delay. She didn’t want the creature biting at her mouth. It felt like her body was on auto-pilot.

The creature struggled as it was gulped down, its body getting warmer and warmer, but it never got too hot for her. The snake tasted like one of those sour gummy worms only that it was warmer, bumpier, and felt like eating a long noodle from a pasta dish. She slurped it up until all of it was inside her and she let out a sigh in the form of a small smoke cloud. Lydia placed a hand on her warm stomach and almost gagged. Never again. She was about to voice her opinion when she opened her mouth and a loud fiery belch came out with actual flames and everything. She covered her mouth with both hands, shocked. 

"'Scuse me." Lydia mumbled with a gasp. She then remembered she was a gross monster now. Gross monsters didn't have manners! At least the ones that she knew about. She turned around to check on Sandy, only to find the relatively small snake backing up in a slither and cowering. The giant shook her head and gradually shrunk down as she carefully walked up to Sandy. 

"Hey, it's alright. I'm not going to hurt or eat you. I'm a good giant who eats bad people and monsters. Don't be afraid. It's me." Lydia said in a calm voice. Once she was twice Sandy's height, she hugged the other and patted her back, rubbing her smooth scales gently. "Shhhhh-shhhhh. It's okay. Daddy's here."

Sandy hissed warily at first, squirming at the grip when she heard Lydia's words and processed them. There were confused hums, followed by soothing deep purrs.

"Thatta girl." The teen smiled, letting go of the creature once she felt that the other was calm enough not to slither away. "I think you can tell, but I'm not the one that you remember. Somehow, I ended up in this body. I am Lydia Deetz, defender of snakes and creepy crawlies everywhere. I'm just glad you're safe from that bully."

Sandy let out a roar in response which Lydia assumed it was her way of thanking her. 

"You're welcome!" Lydia nodded with a smile. "This is most likely a dream, but still, is it okay if you let go of the house? I kinda live there at the moment with Dad and Delia and if they see a giant snake outside, they'd freak." After saying that, she stopped to think. "Actually, you can stay, but please don't crush the house... yet. Now, go on, be free tonight!" She motioned to the outside world for the snake to explore. Sandy nodded and let out a happy roar before she dove straight into the ground and disappeared, probably digging up deep tunnels and graveyards in the process. 

Lydia smirked and dusted off her own hands in pride. "And that's how it's done." Now to check out the house, which seemed more like a doll house if anything. She went down on her knees and bent her body to touch the roof and look through the windows. As she did so, her head started to get warm and fuzzy and her eyelids drooped. She was about to look inside when everything turned black.

* * *

Lydia slowly opened her eyelids with a groggy moan, her entire head surrounded in her pillows as it laid on its left side. With a gasp, she rubbed around to touch her surroundings. She was laying down on her bed in the bedroom that her father made for her in a house she didn't ask to be in. The teen didn't know whether the sigh that came out of her mouth was of relief or disappointment. 

"What a dream." She muttered with a yawn as she maneuvered her body to cover herself more in the blanket. Once she got comfortable, she straightened her head to keep her neck from straining. She glanced up to the ceiling... to find a certain green-haired, chubby striped being floating right above her.

"Hi." He greeted with a smile. 

Then Lydia cried out and threw her pillow hard at the being, causing him to flinch and fall to the ground. He sat up and rubbed his head.

"Hey! First of all, rude. And second- GAH!" The creature yelped when a blanket was thrown at his face. When he managed to take it off, he was met with Lydia standing up on top of the bed, holding her other pillow with both hands and gripping on it for dear life like a weapon, ready to swing it on his head. 

“You better have a good explanation of what the hell is going on and what are you doing in my bedroom!” Lydia growled with gritted teeth, only to freeze for a second. There were two things different about the creature from her dream. One, his hair was shorter and unruly than before. Two, the bracelet on his wrist flashed red and she swore there were red speckles in his hair. However, it didn't stop her from dropping the pillow.

He rolled his eyes. "Ah, zip it for a second, will ya? Yer gonna wake the dead. Literally!" He made a motion of zipping his own lip. At the same time, Lydia felt her lip being closed like an actual zipper. Her eyes widened as she dropped her pillow and touched her mouth with muffled screams. Even the being seemed surprised at this for a second. 

"Huh, that's new. Anyway, what do ya think happened? Yer the one who freed me from that book kinda, so congrats, kid: ya cursed yourself!" He snapped his fingers and the black book suddenly appeared on the foot of the bed, still opened on the page with the word 'Betelgeuse' written in green pen. What was different was that 'Bio-Exorcist' was added below the first word and that the page seemed to be covered in glittering stars and a hand-shaped hole. As Lydia managed to slowly unzip her lip, the being began to float while still sitting criss-cross applesauce and... was he growing? He seemed about six feet when he was on the ceiling, but he looked taller just then. 

"Thanks for helping my sandworm back there, by the way. I haven't seen her in a long time and that fire sandworm made a good snack." The strange man licked his lips with a striped tongue and gave his round belly a few pats. 

"What...?" She blinked, then she gasped and glanced down at her own body. She didn't feel full or warm anymore. She assumed that her being a giant was only a dream. Maybe this creature was messing with her. Maybe she was still dreaming. She pinched the side of her arm and winced. No. She was awake. 

"As much as I want to see you lose your sanity, I'm still kinda hungry. Feels like I haven't eaten in decades. See ya, Spider-Girl!" With a two-finger salute, the being seemed to phase through the floor and disappear. Alarmed, Lydia hopped out of her bed and rushed out of the room to the hallway. She glanced further down the hallway, debating whether or not to wake up her father and Delia. Then again, how was she going to explain a supernatural creature breaking and entering her bedroom as well as probably raiding their pantry? Lydia had to deal with it herself. Silent, she dashed down the stairs and flew to the kitchen where most of the cupboards were opened and the now ten-foot-tall being was in front of the fridge, opening it. 

He whistled, impressed. "You stocked up with Delilah pretty well." 

“Okay, first of all, her name's Delia." Lydia corrected as she went towards him. "And second, who are you? What’s your name?”

"C'mon, kid. Ya seem way smarter than the other breathers I've seen! What do ya remember before ya conked out and had that dream?"

Lydia tried to remember as she rubbed the temples of her forehead in thought. Last night was a blur except the part when she read one word from the book she had found. 

"Betelgeuse?" She muttered in realization.

"Bingo!" The green-haired creature snapped his fingers and pointed to her, his body not leaving the fridge as he rummaged through it. "I spell it literally though because people say it wrong all the time! You can't believe how annoying it is to hear Bettle-Goose over and over."

Lydia raised an eyebrow. "Beetlejuice."

"Ooooh, say it once more and we'll have some real fun, kid!" Beetlejuice grinned as he poked his head out with a link of sausages between his fangs. Lydia's eyes widened. There was no telling what this guy could do if he were encouraging her to say his name three times. 

"Be quiet and still!" She exclaimed in a tight whisper, hearing a creaking noise from upstairs. Beetlejuice jumped at that, moving away from the fridge as Lydia rushed to close it. A couple of syrups, breads, and leftovers were in his arms as a jar of cookies fell on the floor, breaking on impact. 

"Lydia?!" Her father's voice called out from the top of the stairs.

"Are you alright? We're coming!" Delia's tired voice joined in concern. 

"Hide!" Lydia hissed, her face growing pale. She didn't notice her bracelet glowing yellow briefly nor the striped man shrinking and his hair turning a pale yellow. He shoved each food item he had into his mouth at a fast pace, placing the syrups in his pockets for safe keeping. Delia came charging into the kitchen first, holding up a couple of crystals. 

“Lydia, we’re here and I got my protection crystals! Are you okay?”

“We heard a scream and some running.” Charles came in next, concerned. He scanned the room, spotting his pale daughter and the broken cookie jar. Putting two and two together, he sighed. "What's going on?"

"I'm fine, Delia. It was... there was a rat!" Lydia exclaimed after a few seconds of thinking. She then took a deep breath and sighed. "I woke up and I went to get a glass of water when I heard something in the cupboards. That's where I found the rat. I screamed and it jumped out, knocking over the cookie jar. Sorry to wake you two up." She grinned sheepishly.

“... I’m not buying it.” Her father frowned as he crossed his arms after a moment.

"Charles!" Delia exclaimed, about to scold him at the accusation.

"I'm sorry, Delia, but I know my daughter. Sometimes, she will sneak into the kitchen late at night to steal some cookies. She would make up any story and I don't think she screams easily when there's a rat by itself. She likes creatures of the night."

Lydia scowled. Out of all the times she wanted to be noticed by her father, this was what he focused on? Her father leaned forward, almost challenging her. 

“If there’s a rat, where is it then?” He asked. Before Lydia could answer, Delia screamed and jumped towards Charles, clinging onto him.

“There it is!” She shouted as she pointed to the ground where a rat stood in the middle of the room, chewing on a piece of food. Lydia's mouth fell open when she saw the rat appear near Beetlejuice’s feet out of the blue, scurrying between his shoes. She stared at the rat, then back to her dad and Delia. Seeing that they were reacting to the rat and not the chubby demon in the room, she improvised. 

"Shoo, shoo! Back from whence you came!" Lydia bent down and waved the rodent away, the rat dashing out of the kitchen and literally disappearing without a trace. Once it was gone, she stood up and looked to her father, pointing to where the rat once was. "Told you."

“... I’m going to call pest control in the morning. I thought I talked with the agent about this before.” Charles groaned while Delia took deep breaths to calm down. "We'll clean up here. You get to bed, Lydia. We have a lot to do tomorrow." Without another word, Lydia headed up the stairs with the being following her from behind. 

* * *

When she had entered her bedroom, Lydia turned to see Beetlejuice back in the smaller height she had first seen him, seeing him take out a few syrups from his pockets. A few strands of yellow were still in his hair. From behind his back, he held up several cookies.

"Want some?" He offered. 

Lydia scowled and crossed her arms. “Answers. Now.” She did accept the cookies, however. She sat right back onto her bed and pointed to the other end of it. Beetlejuice sighed and sat at the foot of the bed. 

"Alright, that's fair. Well in case ya haven't noticed, I'm a ghost. A dead-born demon."

"Aren't most demons born dead?" Lydia asked while chewing on a cookie. 

"You'd think that, but nah. Most of 'em are either fallen angels, corrupted souls, or just got created outta the blue like some imps. But back ta why I'm here. To make a long chapter shorter, I kinda-sorta ticked off the head honcho of Hell himself." Before Lydia could comment, the demon pressed a finger to her lips. "And don't say either of his names, we don't know if he's listening or not and I don't wanna deal with him." When he let go, Lydia sputtered and rubbed her mouth. 

Beetlejuice continued, "Any-who, the big guy downstairs wanted ta punish me by adding to my curse. It's bad enough that I get stuck in the world of the living, invisible and not able to say my name or affect the living unless I'm summoned, but to get stuck in an old book too? That's just wrong and cliché. But lo and behold, I would be able to get outta my prison if a living person can read my name in the book. I wasn't expecting Edgar Allen Poe's daughter, but I take what I can get. Ya even signed your name too!"

With a smile, the demon made the black book float onto Lydia's lap as it flipped through pages until stopping at the cover page where Lydia had signed her full name on the dotted line. The teen's jaw dropped open in disbelief. 

"So I just signed my soul to the devil without knowing?"

"Yes and no. We're both cursed and bound together until-" Beetlejuice suddenly gagged. He cleared his throat and started again. "Until-!" He coughed and his striped tongue rolled out, tangled in a literal knot. Lydia winced and backed away, losing her appetite. 

"... Tongue tied?" She guessed with a raised eyebrow. Beetlejuice nodded and knocked on his jaw three times. His tongue rolled itself back into his mouth and he swished his tongue around until it was untangled.

"Damn it. Along with my name, I can't say how ta break the curse. Figures!" As the demon muttered curses to himself, Lydia mentally took in what he said, only for her to realize something. 

"Wait a minute. You just said you can't affect the living without being summoned. Then what's with the rat back in the kitchen?"

“Oh, that's easy!" Beetlejuice scoffed as he got up from the bed with a smirk. "You did that yourself, kid.”

“Me?”

"Yer weren't wrong about this thing being a spell book. One perk of our curse is doing awesome stuff together. Lemme just say the three basic rules." The demon jumped up and floated in the air. "Rule #1: We are connected. Not literally from the hip. I mean emotionally and stuff. Not to mention our matching handcuffs." He waved his bracelet around. "I react and feed on strong emotions. When ya got angry, I zipped yer lip. When ya got scared that yer dad was gonna find us out, ya wanted a rat to appear."

Lydia remembered, glancing at the book and her bracelet in thought. Beetlejuice continued. 

"Rule #2: Since we are connected, you cannot be more than twenty feet or so away from the book aka me. I could be anywhere in the house, but ya can't just throw me out of the house or leave me here while you're out. Curse rules, not mine." The teen cursed under her breath. There went a couple of her plans to get rid of him. 

"Last but not least, #3: no one can see or hear me except you and the dead. I cannot do anything major unless my name is three times spoken unbroken. And hint-hint, that's one step into breaking our curse. So what do ya think?"

Lydia didn't know what to think at this point. Why her of all people? What if the demon was lying? She shrugged with a yawn. "I still think I'm asleep and that you look like a raccoon rip-con artist."

"Fair enough." Beetlejuice nodded, then yawned as he stretched out his back and the teen heard several bones pop at the action. "We're both tired, so let's get some shut-eye and let everythin' sink in the morning. I call under the bed!"

Lydia scoffed. "Creepy old guys don't sleep under the bed."

"Come on, kid! It's been a long time since I've seen the outside world and you try sleeping on a dusty page daring to rip itself apart." The demon retorted, then snapped his fingers. "I know! I'll be the monster under your bed! You'll never know I'm here!" Before Lydia could stop him, Beetlejuice went down on all fours on the ground as striped fur started growing out of his body along with a long spiked tail and his eyes become slits and a bright yellow. Tiny horns grew out of his forehead. When he was done, Lydia was looking at a black and white, big-bellied monster with fur that seemed to pop out of a story book. The monster slinked underneath the bed, surprisingly fitting despite the small space. If anything, the bed seemed to raise up a few feet and grew a bit wider. 

Lydia blinked with bags under her eyes. Whatever this demon nonsense was, perhaps it could wait until morning when she could properly assess the situation and take action. She covered herself with the blanket and rearranged her pillows. Before she went to sleep, she picked up her pen and started writing. As she wrote, Beetlejuice's deep voice rumbled from underneath her. 

"Whoever gave me this book should be dragged out of the street and mauled by a werewolf." 

Realizing that he was repeating what she wrote, Lydia stopped writing, slammed the book shut, and threw the book onto the floor hard, causing the demon to yelp. 

"Good night!" The teen exclaimed before she forced her body deeper into the blankets and covered her head with pillows for good measure. The next hour was filled with silence as Lydia eventually fell back asleep. Before the silence could be filled by grumbling snores, Beetlejuice huffed an annoyed sigh. 

"God, I hope you're ready for a tale about death."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say from the bottom of my heart, thank you for the comments and recommendations. You do not know how happy you made me. This chapter got wild and we're not even half way through the story yet! So far, I already got these three chapters done. The other chapters might take a little longer, but I'll make sure to keep an eye on this story. 
> 
> Please leave kudos, comments, questions, or suggestions. I have a tumblr under the same username: SubukuNoJess!


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